


The Deep End

by VittiRayne



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Europa, Other, Past Violence, Revenge, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:00:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29769654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VittiRayne/pseuds/VittiRayne
Summary: Mira-3 is just starting to find herself again after her latest reset, embracing the Darkness, the discoveries on Europa...But when an old friend asks her to help with a mission on Europa, something from her past comes back with deathly consequences, and the inexperienced Hunter finds herself in the frozen depths of the Well of Infinitude, alone, and surrounded by death at every turn.Will the Exo survive or fall off the Deep End in the Well?
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [Disclaimer: Destiny and any canon characters mentioned within are Copyright © Bungie, Inc. All Right Reserved. This fan publication is Copyright © 2020 by Vittoria St Martin. No portion of this fanfiction work, including the original characters and their monikers within, may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever without written permission from Vittoria St Martin. For requests please contact Vittoria St Martin.]

**PART: ONE**

_No.  
  
_ __Stop.  
  
_ _

"Vitals are stable, but the subject has not achieved REM yet, sir." a timid voice, female, spoke up.

She tried to respond to the voice, to tell them she was awake, but no sound came out, not even a whisper of breath.

_Is my jaw broken?_

"Get me a stable connection!" she heard a man's voice retort, cold as the room around them and just as biting. "This one is worth too much to lose."

_What does he mean? Where am-? Who...?_

A terribly painful fog clouded her mind making it too hard to think.  
  
Her limbs were bound tightly against an unforgivingly hard surface, and although she tried with all her might to pull against them her body would not move. Even fingers and toes refused to twitch and her eyelids felt so heavy. Eye. Lids...

_My eyes!_

Panic surged through her as the realization came like a wave, breaking through the fog: there were no straps holding her limbs down, _they had shut off her motor functions!_

The female voice rose again with urgency, "Vitals are spiking, brain synapses are starting to surge!"  
"Begin the reboot and upload, now." the man's voice returned.  
"But, sir-"  
"Do as I say!" the command a snarl. "Unless you wish to end up like the others..."

_No! Not again! Ple-_

A terrible sensation surged through her mind with the forcefulness of a tidal wave, the feeling akin to fingers clawing their way deeply into her brain. A silent scream echoed through her core as the tearing fingers tore at her mind, the agony spreading through her spine and out into her limbs. With each rake and tear, she felt as if everything she knew was being ripped away from her psyche, like grains of snow being swept away on howling winds. Something touched her cheek, the feeling coming through the torment; real fingers pressing against her skin, yet they brought no comfort.  
"This pain will wash away your failures, and remake you in our image, Mira..."

Mira-3 woke up screaming.

Orange eyes blazed to life as the Exo jolted out of an uncharacteristic sleep and sat bolt upright in the rack on her ship. Unfortunately, the twin horns atop the crest of her head collided solidly with the metal sheet above the small space where she rested, making a terrible bang, her horns piercing the metal. Mira cried out and threw her arms up to sharply throw herself away from the roof of the bed-space and landed with a thump back onto the cot. Her metallic hands covered her face as she groaned loudly from the agony of slamming into the metal above and the embarrassment of doing so. A shimmer of light appeared just beside the rack as the female Exo rolled over, and a Ghost clad in a white Arch Shell appeared in the air not far away. The glowing purple of his iris roved over Mira-3's teal colored body, noted the covers that had been knocked onto the floor, the fresh set of puncture marks in the overhead above the bed, and his poor Guardian rubbing her face.

A series of sorrowful clicks and whirs sounded from his shell as he hovered there for a moment.

"I am starting to speculate that 'sleeping' isn't healthy for you, Guardian." The concern was heavy in the Ghost's voice as he floated closer, his iris glancing again at the dents and punctures in the metal.

A deep metallic sigh sounded from his Guardian as her hands fell away from her face and she slumped in the bed to stare up at him.

Mira-3 was the definition of what an Exo should look like in terms of her facial features: sinister and fearsome. Her teal colored face was almost skull-like, her cheeks slightly sunken with orange eyes staring out from bleak sockets like intense burning embers. The twin horns atop her head only added to the ferocity of her appearance, as did the white U-shaped marking that crossed over her eyes and down her face. Even the way her jaws closed together seemed to give her a perpetual, wicked smile of mirth that appeared wholelly unnatural. Were it not for how expressive the glowing orbs of her eyes became to display her emotion, Mira-3 would indeed be constantly devilish in visage.

The orbs of her eyes winked on and off for a split second, as if Mira were blinking, then she crawled out of the rack and made her way across the berthing of the ship. The Ghost drifted aside allowing her to pass silently by him, yet kept his shimmering iris on her as he watched her walk purposefully to a table and bench bolted to the floor nearby. Mira-3 slumped onto the bench and, without looking, reached out with a swift hand to snatch a pitcher of water off the table, before unceremoniously dumping it on top of her head. The Ghost flinched at this, his iris narrowing at his Guardian. He watched her head droop to stare blankly at the floor as the droplets of water rolled off her head and dripped silently onto the ground.

He knew that Mira-3 as an Exo was unable to produce tears, and this was her way of being able to experience the sensation of crying when she needed it

Carefully, the Ghost drifted towards her, his light softly illuminating her face in the dim light of the room:

"Did you remember anything...new...this time?" he asked tentatively.

Mira-3 was quiet for a long moment, her blazing eyes fixed on the pooling water at her feet, metal arms resting atop her knees.

Then she spoke, "I heard his voice again, Murdock."

"The Doctor's?"

"Yea." Mira-3 affirmed, a bright orange light that matched her eyes like a furnace showing from her mouth everytime it moved. She rubbed a hand across her face and head wiping away the water. "I couldn't move. It was freezing. They were rebooting me, doing something to my brain - I... I had 'failed'..." Mira hid her eyes and clutched at the horns on the top of her head, her voice cracking. "I couldn't stop them, Murdock."

If Murdock had a heart it would be twisting in knots. Mira-3 had only recently been Mira-2. After travelling to Europa, embracing the Darkness, and discovering what little she had about Exo creation like so many others, it had caused her to suddenly reboot. Ever since, she had insisted on trying to sleep as an attempt to remember things locked away in her mind, even though Exo's hardly ever tired or needed rest, even resorting to injecting herself with extreme sleeping agents to do so. Each dream only seemed to bring Mira-3 more nightmares and into a deeper state of depression. Even worse there seemed nothing that Murdock could do to stop his Guardian from going on these destructive Dream-scapes except to comfort her when she finally awoke.

"Listen to me, Mira." Murdock flew forward and stopped just in front of her face. "You are _not_ a failure and whoever that 'Doctor' was, he is long _dead_."

Mira-3's hands fell away and her shimmering eyes gazed up at the Ghost hovering before her with a pained expression.

"You are no longer helpless. You are a Guardian." Murdock reminded her proudly, his shell twisting as he chirped brightly. "You are a Hunter who wields both the Light and the Darkness now, whatever tormented you in your past should be terrified of you now."

Mira-3's eyes drifted away from her Ghost and wandered down to her hand, the robotic digits unfolding as she looked at her palm. Splaying her fingers wide, the Exo expanded her chest and reached out for what lurked deep within her. A surge of cold seemed to spread through the Exo's entire form and something dark filtered across her glowing eyes as a scythe of pure ice formed in her grasp. The Hunter's fingers closed firmly around it and held the deadly weapon aloft.

"See. You're starting to get rather good at that." Murdock noted encouragingly, yet his shell twitched with some nervousness, as he eyed the scythe in her hand.

Exhaling slowly, Mira-3's eyes inspected the thing she had created as she turned the scythe over in her hand, noting its every detail. How frigid it felt in her fingers, how raw it felt. Suddenly, the scythe began to vibrate and shake violently in the Exo's hand, glowing with an ethereal, unnatural gleam, and the Hunter hastily flung it across the room. Murdock ducked behind his Guardian's back as the scythe burst open an empty crate, then ricocheted carving an icy gash in the wall, and then exploded against the ceiling leaving a sheet of ice in its wake.

"Perhaps I need some more practice..." Mira murmured, staring at the icy mess.

Murdock peeked over her shoulder, then floated back up towards her head as he turned to her:

"How does it feel?"

"Hm?' Mira-3's head roved to glance at him.

"The Darkness?" Murdock queried curiously, his Arch Shell cocking to one side. "How does it feel compared to the Light?"

The Exo Hunter took a deep breath before speaking as she leaned back against the table, the act more a force of habit than a necessity to breathe:

"Unstable." Mira-3 replied, her emberous eyes shifting in their sockets as she searched for the right words. "Like trying to hold onto and form a snowball, but the snowball is made of a blizzard. Yet it also feels like a dark whirlpool that's not quite made of sand or water at times."

Snapping her metallic fingers, a heavy blade of fire suddenly burst to life in Mira's hand and the Exo began to spin it with practiced grace; a bright surge of mischief alighting in her glowing eyes.

"Yet between you and me, I prefer the warmth of the Light, Murdock." A genuine smile beamed across her skull-like face as she twirled the knife. "Even the dark of the Void makes me feel more at home."

Murdock's reticle widened and his shell flexed happily at her words.

"This is -!" he started, then a sharp series of chirps sounded as he collected himself. "I mean, I am quite glad to hear you say that, my Guardian, however..." his voice became sincere as he gazed at her. "No matter what you chose to use, Light or Dark, I will always be here by your side."

Without taking her eyes off of him, Mira tossed the flaming blade up in the air where it evaporated into thin air and gently reached out to cup his shell in her metallic fingers. Murdock nestled himself in her hands as Mira-3 caressed his shell with her thumbs, her smile broadening as her Ghost began to give off a sound that was almost like a purr. The Exo lowered her head and nuzzled her forehead against Murdock's shell before pulling back.

"You know, if anything were to happen to you, Murdock, I would do terrible, unspeakable things in this system?" Mira-3 spoke the dire promise with an uncharacteristically loving expression on her face.

"I pray to the Traveler that day never comes. Because I fear for everything in the System if that were to happen, Guardian." Murdock replied.

Suddenly a bright noise sounded in the berthing, and Murdock's iris widened.

"You have an incoming transmission from, Rio, Guardian." he said.

Mira's glowing orange eyes become slanted, "Put him through, Murdock."

Murdock shot up from her hands and the Exo leaned back against the table while Murdock's shell began to twitch and his form brighten as the transmission came through:

 _"Song bird to the Wolf Pack! YO TIN CAN! ARE YOU READING ME?!"_ Rio's unmistakable voice came through the comms.

"Call me tin can one more time, Rio Oshi-ii and you will find a knife in your back." Mira-3 glowered resting a cheek against a closed fist.

 _"Oh as I do live and breathe, Selena, my Exo trainee is alive!"_ Rio remarked mockingly to his Ghost. _"Say how was your nap - tell me later, listen, get your robot butt to Europa, I've got a job for you that-"_

"Not interested, Rio." The Exo cut him off. "Call me back when you're not an asshole."

 _"You love my ass and you know it, Mira."_ Rio countered smugly. _"Spider is paying on this one, good glimmer, and maybe something extra."_

"Spider...?" Mira-3's intense eyes narrowed suspiciously.

 _"Meet me at the coordinates I'm sending to your Ghost, bring them sexy Rigs of yours, just in case you still have misgivings about Stasis."_ Rio said. _"But hurry, you know the Baron doesn't like to be kept waiting."_

The transmission ended and Murdock's shell dimmed.

Mira-3 lowered her arm from her cheek and rapped her metallic fingers across her knee making a bright rapping sound as she thought hard for a moment. Her glowing eyes roved to the other side of the room to where her Hunter gear was hung up; the Empyrean hood draped waiting patiently. Finally, the Exo stood up to her full height and walked towards the cloak.

"Murdock, take the ship to those coordinates. Let's see what that rat Rio is up to..."

_**[To be continued...]** _


	2. Part Two

"Are you certain these are the right coordinates, Murdock?"

The glowing face of Mira-3's Holdfast Mask focused on the Arch Shell Ghost that hovered just above her splayed palm.

"Quite certain." The white panels of his shell twitched as he clicked, his purple iris gazing back up at her. "You know I am never wrong, but Rio on the other hand..."

A deep seeded, metallic sigh echoed from the Exo Hunter as she turned and gazed about the area.

Mira-3 stood in a large chamber deep within the Well of Infinitude on Europa surrounded by tarnished Vex architecture embedded in the ice, massive struts of ancient metal holding up the ceiling. A deep pool of pure, roiling Radiolarian burbled softly around the large platform the Hunter waited on, the singular optic of her helm glancing at the blocky protrusions jutting out from it and the surrounding walls. Two massive hallways lead into this room, one just behind her where she had come from, fighting her way through several waves of Eliksni and Vex from the surface of Europa itself, and another just off to her left that led deeper into the Well. However it was mostly quiet now, save for the soft churning of the Radiolarian and the crinkling of the ice around her.

The cape of her teal Empyrean cloak ruffled slightly as the Guardian turned and paced a few steps around the edge of the platform, anything to keep frost from forming on her Seigebreaker armor and Orpheus Rigs. Murdock floated along after her, his shell keeping perfect pace with her movements. The warm light of the chamber glittered nicely off the black, white, and golden accents of Mira-3's gear. Even the glowing, yellow optic of her helm that peered out from beneath the horns of her cloak made her almost seem at home amidst the Vex landscape. Before the discoveries on Europa, Mira-3 had always found a strange, unexplainable connection to the Vex, which is why it never bothered her when other Guardians picked on her for looking like them when it came to her armor choices.

The Exo Hunter paused at the edge of the platform and stared hard at the pool of glimmering, white Vex Milk brimming with what she knew was deathly pain if she touched it, and that ever present knowledge that it was this very substance that helped to make her into an Exo.

Mira-3 found it fascinating and disturbing.

The Hunter huffed impatiently, "Just like that rat to make me hurry up and wait."

"At least you have good company to wait with." Murdock noted as he nestled himself into the folds of the cloak at her neck to keep warm, his reticle tilting brightly up at her.

"That I do, my dear Ghost, that I do." Mira-3 agreed, reaching up to pet his smooth shell with her gloved fingers, causing him to hum with content.

Letting the fingers of her other hand wander, the Guardian felt for the handcannon at her hip, and she unholstered it to pull it up where she could see it. The singular eye of Mira-3's helm focused on the gold and black polished surface of the Ace of Spades in her hand as she lovingly caressed it with her fingers. Flipping the cylinder open with a flick of her wrist, the Hunter brought her other hand down to ensure each chamber was full, before spinning it and slapping it back into place.

"Do you still miss him?" Murdock's voice drifted up from her cloak.

"Cayde-6?" the Exo muttered turning the handcannon over in her hand. "I...I feel like I barely knew him." she paused, then swiftly holstered the handcannon. "But yes. I miss him."

"He seemed to like you well enough, I thought." Murdock noted with a clicking of his shell.

Mira-3's head looked up from the pool of white fluid and seemed to stare off into space:

"I can still hear his voice, ya know. 'Hey kid! Ya wanna go hunt down some criminals and throw them in prison? I'll do all the work and give you the credit!'" she mimicked with a short laugh, then her voice grew somber. "He used to tell me they broke the assembly line mold when they made me...that I was cute for an Exo...heh...liar...bet he told all the Exo girls that."

The Hunter hung her head and a dark cloud seemed to hang over her as she wrapped her cloak around herself.

"Cayde-6 may have been a scoundrel, but I don't think he lied when he told you those things, Guardian." Murdock squirmed in the folds Mira-3's cowl breaking her out of her melancholy, "Besides, I think he would be very happy to know that you have a copy of his gun. I've never seen you fight so hard for a weapon."

"Thanks, 'Dock, I-" Mira-3 started to speak but then froze as every sensor in her body went into high alert.

Something had disturbed the ice around them, even the air no longer felt right.

"What is-"

"Hide."

Mira-3 silenced her Ghost's whisper with a stern command as she pulled out the Gnawing Hunger auto rifle from her back and whirled on her heels to sweep the barrel around the room. Murdock dissipated from her cloak and further into safety as the Hunter hunched low and took several steps across the platform, searching for the source of the disturbance. Yet her eyes saw nothing through the singular glow of her helm as she reached the center of the platform, still circling, looking.

Then the sound of crackling ice reached Mira-3's ears, she whirled to face it, but it was too late.

The ice grenade hit her square in the chest and the frozen force behind it spread faster than the Hunter could comprehend, entombing her in dark ice. The force of the immobilization was so sudden and swift that it seemed to crush the life from her as it held her where she stood. Mira-3 tried to gasp, but her chest wouldn't expand, instead she was suffocated by the ice and immediately began to struggle to free herself from it. A dark shape caught the corner of her vision, coming up fast, and she struggled all the harder, feeling the Light within her brimming to the surface. Yet, just as the Hunter burst free of the ice, sending shards scattering in all directions, the dark shape slammed into her with the force of a battering ram, and her weapon went flying.

Mira-3 didn't quite recognize the painful noise that came from her as the dark thing collided with her and carried her across the platform, nor the next one as it slammed her against a rectangular Vex pillar. Something snapped in her right arm and leg as the Hunter awkwardly struck the pillar and started to slump down its surface. However Mira-3's attacker gave her no reprieve as a hand suddenly clamped over her vision, and another grasped the back of her helmet. The Hunter was able to get out a mewl of alarm before her head was viciously slammed into the pillar with shocking force. Mira-3 saw stars, then blinding white as her head was yanked back and slammed again, but by a stroke of luck the bindings on her helmet suddenly broke. As her assailant yanked her back a third time, the helmet was torn from her head, forcing them to stagger back and allowing Mira-3 to crumple stunned and in pain to the floor. The Hunter hit the ground with a terrible groan as her head swam, her good arm flailing as she tried to raise it to cover her head; Murdock pushing waves of Light into her body from the safety of her cloak as fast as he could to try and heal her.

Above her, a furious snarl sounded from the Exo's attacker as he crushed the helmet between his hands, shattering the singular lens and threw it violently away. The mangled hunk of metal sailed through the air and then landed in the pool of Vex fluid with a loud splash before sinking below the surface. Sensing her attacker rushing back in, the waves of Light faded from Mira-3's form as Murdock went back into hiding. The Exo shook her head as her senses came back to her and the pain dimmed somewhat, to push herself up with her left arm, but her assailant was too fast. Strong fingers seized her by the neck, while another hand wrenched hold of her good arm, and he hauled her off of the floor with immense strength. Mira-3's vision came into focus, and she finally saw the identity of her attacker as he pressed her back against the pillar.

The Titan that held her was enormous to say the least, easily a foot taller than herself as he held her dangling above the floor like she was a ragdoll. His Anti-Extinction Plate armor was dark grey, white, and accented with flecks of faded yellow. The polish on his Chemflesh helm was so high, that Mira-3 could see her own glowing, orange eyes in its reflection.

"Finally, I tracked you down, you robot piece of trash!" the Titan snarled in her face. "I'm going to tear you apart with my bear hands for what you did!"

Another growl echoed from behind his helmet as his fingers started to squeeze harder, and Mira-3 gagged. While the Exo didn't need to breathe per say, the Titan's fingers were crushing painfully down on the metal case of her neck and the tubing that brought fluids to her braincase, not to mention her voice box. The pressure on her arm wasn't pleasant either, and the Hunter squirmed in his grasp, the hand of her good arm trying to pry him off.

"I'm sorry - do I...know you?" she forced the words out in a metallic wheeze.

"You...forgot..." the Hunter felt the Titan shudder with muted rage and she braced herself as he leaned forward to shriek into her face, "HOW COULD YOU FORGET US! The ones you abandoned! Left for dead! You filthy Vex reject!"

With a scream of fury the Titan slammed his helmet into Mira-3's forehead and she heard her skull ping-pong off the back of the pillar as her vision went white and her body went limp. She would have groaned in pain but it was choked off as the Titan yanked her away from the pillar and began to throttle her with both his hands in a fit of rage. He turned, taking her with him and the Exo's glowing orange eyes started to roll back in their sockets, but she coughed raggedly and forced herself to stay conscious. She looked like a broken doll in his hands, her right limbs were mangled, hanging awkwardly from their sockets. Mira-3 writhed weakly in his grasp as she jerkily reached up with one arm to clutch at the fingers firmly holding her by the neck, her emberous eyes gazing up at him pleadingly. Chest heaving, the Titan tore his helm away from her and looked at the edge of the platform, then turned back to her with an eerie slowness.

A dark chuckle sounded from the Titan as he started walking, dragging Mira-3 along with him.

"I know how to _fix_ you." he said.

"Wait!" Mira-3 gasped sharply. "We can tal-"

A sharp grunt echoed from Mira-3's glowing jaws as the Titan slammed her back down against the edge of the platform and knelt over her. Trying to twist her head, her hand trying to pry his fingers away from her throat, it was then that she heard the sound of the Radiolarian fluid bubbling, the unmistakable noise very, very loud in her ears. Mira-3's glowing eyes darted to one side, each bright orb focusing on the blistering white fluid with fear.

"You Exo's are made outta this stuff right?" the Titan above her mused darkly. "It's the stuff that makes your brains tick, yea?"

A shudder of terror raced through the Exo as she looked up at the Titan, "No! Don't-!"

"Perhaps a dunk in it will jog your memory!"

Mira-3's scream was cut off as the Titan slid her back off the platform and plunged her head beneath the Vex Milk.

_**[To be Continued...]** _


	3. Part Three

Mira-3 had experienced plenty of painful things as a Guardian but in this moment, slowly drowning head first in Radiolarian fluid while being strangled by an angry Titan was by far the worst thing ever. Horrific jolts of white hot electricity shot through the Exo's head and raced painfully through her body causing her limbs to spasm as if she were seizuring. This pain was amplified in the limbs the Titan throttling her had mangled as the impulses tried to force them to work when they were broken. The fluid poured into every open orifice in the Exo's head, filling her eye sockets, ears, pouring into her mouth, stuck open in a perpetual scream that it drowned out. The Radiolarian fluid felt as if it were alive, trying to force its way inside her, sensing her pain, her mental anguish, desperation, and searched for more.

A wicked laugh echoed from the Titan's helmet as the Exo in his grasp contorted beneath him, her body writhing like an electrocuted insect. He tightened his grip and forced her head farther beneath the surface, feeling the slightest sting of the fluid cross his armored fingertips. But every moment of this was worth it to him: to watch her drown, to suffer, as they had.

His laugh faded as the Hunter's hand slapped against his helm as she flailed about, struggling, and he knocked it away with a twist of his jaw like it was no more than a nuisance. Yet, as he turned back his vision was suddenly filled with a surge of roiling purple energy and he shrieked as it blinded him. The shriek turned into a scream of fury as the Titan reeled back, releasing Mira-3's neck, rising to his feet as the energy from the Void grenade spread rapidly over his head and down his chest. He bellowed, his arms flailing maddeningly as the purple force began to eat away at him like a caustic all consuming wave.

Fingers raking against the surface of the platform, Mira-3 pulled herself weakly out of the Vex Milk with the last of her strength and slumped forward onto her good arm. Her Exo head was completely covered in solid white, no light showing from within as her maw opened and she forcefully expelled a massive gout of glowing fluid. Chest heaving and jaws snapping, Mira-3 finally took a desperate breath in and exhaled as she collapsed onto the platform, the fluid pouring out of her Exo-skull. A death rattle gurgled out from Mira-3's throat as her body went limp and life began to leave her as she laid there in the growing puddle of Vex Milk. Murdock's white Arch Shell rapidly appeared in a flash of light above her, his iris alighting as he shone an intense beam of light onto his Guardian, the waves of iridescence wafting over her tormented form.

"Just keep breathing, Guardian! You're going to be alright!" the Ghost assured her hastily.

A ragged cough rumbled from the Exo's core spreading the pool of fluid beneath her head in all directions like paint as the surge of Light yanked her back away from the edge of death. She somehow found that euphemism about breathing amusing amidst all the pain she felt. As the fluid drained away and the convulsions began to subside from the Vex Milk, the orange lights within Mira-3's eye sockets and mouth returned, growing steadily brighter with each moment. Taking in another breath and aspirating another wave of Radiolarian fluid, the Hunter's glowing eyes narrowed feeling her broken limbs knitting back together. Sliding one arm along the floor, Mira-3 grunted as she pushed herself shakily up off the floor, feeling her strength returning. She hastily rubbed her neck twisting her head around to get the feeling of where the Titan's hands had been around her throat to fade. Sighing inwardly with relief, Mira-3 stood up to her full height, letting her hands fall to her side - and thoughts of murder crossed her mind.

Orange eyes blazing in her skull-like face like hellish embers, the Exo Hunter wiped the last bit of Vex Milk from her mouth with the back of a hand, casting it aside with a wave, reached for the Ace of Spades at her hip, and stalked towards the Titan.

"Murdock," Mira-3 instructed, her metallic voice dark. "Hide."

Without another word, her Ghost vanished in a twinkling of Light and was gone.

Meanwhile, the Titan was not faring well. But then again, no one did against a direct hit from a Void grenade, especially one to the face. Mira-3 could barely see him through the swirling ball of the Void, except his flailing limbs and the sound of his furious, pained roars as she drew near. Suddenly she saw his helmet come flying out of the swirling mass, no doubt his last ditch attempt to cast aside the effect or save his head. The Exo chuffed, amused.

There was no safety from the Void.

Finally the effect of the grenade began to fade, the swirling waves of Void shimmered away in the frigid air and Mira-3 carefully aimed the Ace of Spades. The Titan was hunched over, his back to her, holding onto one arm, blood dripping down his armor and onto the floor. Suddenly his Ghost, adorned in the Eyeball Shell, winked into existence, its optic focused on the Exo.

"Lookout!" a female voice cried out from the shell.

The Titan whirled around and Mira-3 pulled the trigger.

A sharp cry that turned into a snarl came from the Titan as he fell to one knee, the shot from the Ace of Spades tearing through his right shin. His Ghost let out a soft squeak then vanished from sight for her own safety. Head hung low, his chest heaving, the Titan knelt there clutching his arm, and Mira-3 slowly pulled the hammer back on the handcannon, letting the sound of it echo ominously through the chamber.

"Now that I have your attention." her sinister eyes locked onto him. "We can have a proper, civil conversation - and you can start by telling me who the hell you are and why you're trying to kill me!"

"Stupid Exo..." he looked up at her. "You really don't remember?"

Mira-3 flinched as her eyes met his face.

It was the angry face of an Awoken man who glared back at her, puffs of smoke coming from his flared nose in the frozen air. His skin and disheveled hair were as pale as the snow of the planet they were on, yet his eyes glowed a bright yellow like that of a vicious cat. While the Titan bore no Awoken markings, he had a wicked scar along the left side of his cheek that ran from his scalp and down his jawline. And unlike many other Awoken, this Titan lacked the handsome chiseled features of his kin.

"Krieg?" Mira-3 breathed in recollection.

The Awoken Titan scowled at her, "Now you remember."

She returned his expression, "You have an ugly face only your mother could love; you should have led with the helmet off. Krin!"

At Mira-3's call, Krieg's Ghost nervously appeared just over his shoulder and peeked at her, the tiny creature's iris glancing back and forth between the terrifying Exo, the cannon in her hand, and her own Guardian.

"What are you doing!?" Krieg snarled at her. "I didn-"

"Heal him up, Krin." Mira-3 instructed and they both whirled on her in surprise. "But you keep those mits of yours where I can see them, Krieg - and put a helmet on him, Krin, so that ugly face of his doesn't freeze off."

Krin didn't argue, transmatting another Chemflesh helm onto Krieg's head as she cascaded waves of healing light across his body, yet Mira-3 could sense the Awoken's yellow eyes still locked onto her with scathing hatred.

"This changes nothing." he growled. "We are still enemies, Exo."

"I have a name, asshat." Mira-3 shot back, keeping the handcannon trained on his head. "And we have no reason to be enemies."

"If you remember me then you remember why I hate you, what you did to us, why-" he started.

"Stop it." Mira rubbed an exasperated hand across her forehead and tugged at one of the horns on her head as she stared intensely at him. "You hired me to help you clear out, and retrieve some tablets from the Hive on the moon for Eris Morn with you and some of your people. _I did that_. Then you and your lot got wind of some fancy Hive Lord in the Hellmouth and decided to go on a suicide mission - and I said NO."

"You left us to die in there! They could have made it if you had been there!" Krieg shouted angrily, his arm now fully healed and his leg wound beginning to close. "You were one of us!"

"I was NEVER. One. Of. _You_." Mira-3 jerked the gun in her hand at him with emphasis as she spoke each word. "I was just some random Hunter you asked to do a mission. You and your crew chose to go after that Hive Lord alone, without me. You led yourselves into death."

"But you weren't just some random Hunter, were you?" Krieg's voice became sinister as he stood up to his full height, his leg now mended.

Mira-3 held her ground yet had to crane her arm upwards to keep her weapon levelled on him; he was so tall and massive.

"You were someone we trusted, someone we thought we could rely on." he continued, his words cutting like a knife. "Our Warlock helped you get that very hand cannon you just shot me with, didn't he?"

The glowing orbs in Mira's head waivered from the Titan looming before her to the pistol in her hand, a look of doubt filtering across them.

"Do you know what the Hive did to him, Mira?" the Titan's voice dipped low. "I watched as they broke his spine, crushed his limbs to a crude metal frame, heard him shriek as they ripped the Light from his body, then I watched as the thralls feasted on his corpse."

Krieg's callous words sent a pang of guilt through Mira-3's heart and, for a moment, her grip on the Ace of Spades shifted.

It was then, that the Titan rushed forward.

**_BANG!_ **

Krieg bellowed in agony as he stumbled forward to catch himself on his hands, his knee shot out from under him. Snarling, his monstrous helm snapped up to see the Exo that had shot him lift the end of the handcannon to her mouth and blow the smoke from the end of the barrel. A terrible sneer crossed the Hunter's face as she leveled the handcannon on him once more, her eyes glowing hellishly.

"You almost had me there, Krieg, but then I remembered that you have a way with words for a Titan, _and my heartstrings don't exist anymore_." Mira-3 tisked with a smirk. "Hepophis was a Warlock who liked to live dangerously, and I am ever so grateful for his help in getting me this beauty." The Exo wiggled the pistol in her grasp for emphasis then levelled it out. "While it does pain me to think the Hive murdered him so viciously, Hepophis chose his fate, and I'm certain he gave them hell before they tore his Light out."

"I am going to tear you apart!" Krieg snarled murderously as he clutched his bleeding knee.

A solemn look crossed the Hunter's eyes as she gazed down at him, "I don't want to kill you, Krieg. I know you're angry that you lost them, but I'm not the one you need to be angry at. We don't have to do this."

"I deeply disagree!" he fumed. "Had you just agreed to come along, they would be alive, and now, I'm going to make you suffer as they did!"

"Well it's a good thing I'm the one with the loaded gun, and all the time in the world to change your mind." Mira-3 grinned once more.

"Correction." Krieg growled. "You have only five rounds left in that chamber before I have an opening."

Smile fading from her skull-like face, Mira-3 was about to reply when the air around both Guardian's rippled and a crackling of energy sounded in the chamber. Both Krieg and Mira-3 glanced warily around the room as mini-Vex portals began to pop up around the various structures surrounding the platform. The commotion they caused must have drawn them in. Goblins began to drop down from the portals followed by a series of Minotaurs, Hydras, and Wyverns, all their glowing red optics focusing singularly on the two Guardians in the center of the platform. Mira-3 turned slowly away from Krieg and leveled her Ace on the Vex.

"Murdock, get me a helmet!" she commanded, and soon after another Holdfast Mask digitized into life over her head as she quickly pulled her Hunter's hood over her head.

A surge of light wafted over Krieg's form, quickly healing the Titan's knee and he stood up, "Krin where's my shotgun?"

An IKELIOS shotgun appeared in his grasp and he quickly racked the weapon as he levelled it on the nearest Minotaur.

"Now would be a good time for us to bury this hatchet, Krieg." Mira-3 called out over her shoulder.

"After I crush these Vex, I'm burying you, Exo." Krieg swore as he charged forward and punched a Vex Goblin into ruined parts, before turning his Shotgun on the Minotaur.

Groaning in frustration, Mira-3 dodged a combined blast from a pair of Wyverns, her cape fluttering behind her as she vanished momentarily into the Void.

_Rio is going to owe me big for this when he finally gets here!_

**[To be continued...]**


	4. Part Four

_"OHDEARLO - NOO!"_

The words expelled from Mira-3's mouth in a rush as she wildly dodged the incoming Vex Wyvern as it curled its jelly-fish like wings inward and pounced at her. Rolling behind a nearby rectangular pillar, the Hunter's teal cape whipped behind her as she scrambled behind it for cover, the giant machine landing in the spot she had been standing in just moments before. She panic tossed a Void grenade around the corner at the creature as she hurriedly went to reload her Ace of Spades handcannon. Hearing the Wyvern shriek as the grenade began to consume it, Mira-3 took the moment of respite to collect herself as she cocked her pistol to survey the rest of the chamber - and her heart sank.

There were still so many Vex.

Across the platform, Kreig's hulking Titan form was pummeling his way through their cycloptic enemies. If he wasn't slide-blasting them to death with his shotgun, he was punching or tearing them apart with his bare hands. She grimaced slightly as she watched Krieg toss an icy grenade into a group of Goblins, shoulder charge them into chunks, then with a cry of fury leapt on top of a Hydra to blast it right in the face with his weapon. Yet as a dark shadow fell over the Hunter and she whirled to see the Wyvern stomping around the pillar, Mira realized she had bigger problems herself.

As the angry red eye of the beast focused on her to unleash a deadly wave of energy, the Exo Hunter rushed swiftly between its feet, holstered her Ace of Spades, and grasped for the hilt of her Falling Guillotine. The Wyvern barely had time to bellow a death cry as Mira carved it from crotch to crown, watching it fade away to nothing. Then a furious cry and a strange shifting of the air made the Hunter turn.

Mira-3 barely had time to jump out of the way as a wave of thick, ice spikes raced in her direction.

Swearing loudly, the Exo jumped as high as she could, grasping onto an overhanging platform and scrambling over the edge, only to find a pair of Vex Hobgoblins standing on top of it. Wasting no time cutting them down with her blade, Mira-3 turned the singular optic of her Holdfast helm back towards the platform to witness a massacre. Krieg was furiously slamming the ground all around him, sending out wave after devastating wave of ice formations that shredded through the Vex or froze them in place. For an instant, the Hunter stared agape at the destruction of the Dark Super wielded by the Titan, shuddering to think she might have been caught in that. However, Mira-3's gaze was torn away as something big struck her violently in the side and sent her flying.

A sharp grunt came from the Exo as her back slammed into the cavernous wall of the chamber, the force knocking the wind out of her, and she tumbled to the floor, somehow catching herself on her hands and knees. The Hunter coughed and clutched at her chest with a free hand as she forced herself to her feet using the blade for balance. Something was definitely broken and no longer functioning right in her sternum; she cursed her lack of situational awareness as she righted herself.

The ground around her began to shudder and Mira-3 weakly lifted the sword to block the incoming blasts from what she finally realized was a Vex Minotaur that had drop-kicked her off the higher platform. Pain radiated through her chest as each heavy blast shook her body, yet the Exo Hunter held her ground and waited for the Minotaur to grow impatient. The moment it teleported, Mira-3 was ready.

Vanishing from sight, the massive Vex Machine suddenly appeared right on top of the small Guardian, lifting its arm to strike her down, but with a cry of fury Mira-3 spun in a violent circle, waving the Falling Guillotine over her head. The whirlwind attack did its job and sliced up the Minotaur like he was made of butter in an arc of vivid light. The Vex monster let out a massive death groan as it digitized into thin air. Yet more laser fire started coming in from several Vex Goblins as the Minotaur fell. Mira-3 tossed a smoke bomb at her feet and faded into the concealment of the Void.

"Murdock, I'm-" she started to say, her voice strained from her crushed sternum, one arm wrapped around her chest as her invisible form raced along the edge of the platform.

"I'm on it, Guardian!" her Ghost's reassuring voice echoed in her headspace as she ran.

With each step, the Hunter felt whatever had broken in her chest quickly begin to mend as she holstered her blade and pulled out her Ace of Spades once more. When the invisibility faded, Mira-3 turned towards the Goblins and singularly gunned them down with careful aim of her handcannon before they could even react. Twirling behind another geometric pillar that jutted out of the platform, the Guardian took a moment to reload her pistol, when she heard a scream.

Slapping the cylinder back into her handcannon, the Hunter peered around the corner of her hiding place, and stiffened at what she saw.

Far across the chamber, Krieg was lying under the foot of a massive Minotaur, the beast stomping on him over and over again, crushing him with each heavy blow of its metallic, clawed foot. The chamber echoed with the sound of the Titan crunching beneath the massive Vex as Krieg screamed in agony. To make things worse, a pair of Wyverns, Hydras, and a group of Goblins were quickly closing in on the pinned Titan. Swifty holstering her pistol, Mira-3 sprinted in Krieg's direction, and reached out for the Light.

As the Minotaur lifted its enormous foot for another stomp, a thick hunk of ice formed suddenly in Krieg's hand and he grunted with pained effort as he chucked it at the Minotaur. The Vex reeled back as the hunk struck him, then was instantly entombed in a thick mass of ice, freezing it mid stomp. The Titan weakly lifted a Xenophage across his broken form and squeezed off a shot, the heavy bullet striking the Minotaur and shattering it into a dozen, frozen metallic hunks. However, the Titan's victory was short-lived as an approaching Wyvern tucked its wings and launched itself at him.

A sickening crunch sounded as Krieg's body actually bounced across the floor from the Wyvern's attack and landed with a bone-shattering thunk in an awkward sitting position against the wall of the chamber.

A wet cough rattled from the Titan's Chemflesh helm, the lens shattered and broken on one side, revealing his pale Awoken skin, and glowing yellow eye beneath. A dark fluid leaked from the bottom of his helm and the corners of his armor, steam rising from the fluid just before it instantly froze in the frigid Europan air of the Well. Slowly, the glimmering yellow eye beneath the broken helm lifted to meet the powerful Vex approaching him, his hand somehow still gripping the Xenophage, and his fingers flexed around the weapon's grip as they neared.

Then a deep sound echoed through the chamber, like the tolling of a deathbell, and the world erupted into brilliant purple.

The Light surged through every fiber of Mira-3's Exo form as she flipped up into the air and formed a bow of pure Void energy into her hands. While the string pulled back effortlessly, the Hunter relished the surge of raw power she felt as the arrow formed and then released it upon the Vex below. The first arrow struck the Wyverns, the second and third the Hydras, and the remaining bolts fueled by the boost from her Orpheus Rigs struck the rest of the gathered Vex. Landing with cat-like grace on the floor just before Krieg, the Hunter revelled in the sight of the Vex shrieking and bellowing as they thrashed around in the Tethers, the Void tearing away at them. Yet, she knew her Super alone would not be enough, and pulling out her blade rushed forward into the swirling mass of purple energy. The Exo's heavy blade sang through the air with no resistance as it cut down the Vex and she danced through their ranks like a deadly marionette. With one final whirlwind strike, the last Vex was felled and the Hunter slid to a halt before the Titan, blade in hand, savoring the fading screams of the Vex as they were expunged from sight. As silence filled the chamber, the purple Light faded, and Mira-3 lowered her blade as she slowly turned around.

Krieg, or what was left of him, was a mess, and he was dying.

Slumped against the wall, his legs and left arm mangled and unnaturally contorted, chest armor caved in, it was a shock that Krieg was even still conscious, let alone still holding onto the Xenophage with one hand. Another rattling cough echoed from his shattered helm as he shifted painfully, trying to lift the weapon. Yet the Titan winced, his body jolting to a halt before going limp as he tried to suck in a sharp breath, the sound like air being pulled through a wet hose. The singular glowing optic of Mira's helm focused on him as she simply stood there silently staring at him.

Krieg's glowing yellow eye showing through the tear in his own helm rose to meet her, and took on a hard expression.

"Why do you hesitate?" He wheezed, pausing to clear his throat. "End it..."

The Hunter before him carefully sheathed her sword, drew out the Ace of Spades from her hip, and flipped the cylinder open, making sure a bullet sat in each chamber before snapping it closed with the flick of her wrist. Slowly, she raised the pistol and leveled it on the Titan. Something akin to a smile crossed Krieg's eye.

"You know...I had always envisioned...that I would die in some great battle with my allies next to me." Krieg began to muse before falling into a fit of pained coughing, then he settled back against the wall. "Shaxx warned me to watch out for the little things that kill ...and here you are at the end of it all, heheheheh."

The Titan let out a deep chuckle that ended in another terrible bout of coughing.

"Hurry," he hissed, his glowing eye gaping at her. "My comrades are waiting..."

The Exo stared down the length of the barrel at him, then let the gun fall to her side.

"No."

Krieg's eye widened, "No?! What are yo-"

Mira-3 holstered the headcanon, turned around, and began walking away.

"I won't live the rest of my second life with your stupid blood on my hands, Krieg." She scowled over her shoulder. "Go find that big battlefield to die on, find some new friends, get a hobby like basketweaving or something- and forget I exist."

As her head began to rove around the platform looking for her discarded auto rifle to claim, Mira heard the Titan behind her stir, guttural noises coming from his chest.

"You filthy robotic witch!" He spat furiously as he struggled to breathe. "This isn't...over!"

A face and a mouth only his mother could tolerate, Mira inwardly scowled as she kept searching.

"Yes it is, Krieg." The Exo replied. "I saved you from the Vex, I spared your life, and now f-"

**_T-BANG!_ **

Mira-3 stumbled on her feet, her world rocked as something tore through the side of her helmet, leaving a terrible ringing in her ears, and shattering the lens of her helm. Staggering to a halt in a daze, the Hunter reached up and clawed the remnants of the helm off her head, hood falling back across her shoulders. Her glowing, orange eyes gaped blearily down at the ruined helmet letting it fall to the floor, the ringing in her ears beginning to fade. Mira-3 felt something warm trickling down the side of her head as she started to turn around.

**_T-BANG! T-BANG!_ **

Mira-3 shrieked in pain as hot slugs tore through her left shoulder severing her arm and the other her right thigh cleaving her leg out from under her. She crumpled to the floor, writhing in agony, fluid gushing from her severed limbs, but the intense cold of the air froze them closed near instantly. Flopping onto her side, clutching at the hole where her arm used to be, the Exo's glowing eyes looked up in horror to see Krieg now standing on his feet, Xenophage in his hands, aiming the smoking barrel in her direction.

"First you abandon our clan, then you _dare_ to walk away from me - **COWARD**!" the Titan roared.

His Ghost hovered just next to him, the panels of Krin's Eyeball Shell separating and twisting as she radiated waves of Light over his form to heal him, his damaged armor quickly being replaced, as he walked closer.

"I told you, this ends when I bury you!" he steadied his aim and Mira braced herself.

Then a twinkling of Light appeared above the Exo Hunter, as her Ghost's white Arch Shell came into being.

Krieg shifted the barrel of the Xenophage in Murdock's direction and Mira-3's glowing eyes grew wide as she snatched her Ghost quickly from the air just as the Titan pulled the trigger. She felt the wind from the slug graze her fingers as she rolled over, desperately tapped into the Light, pushing with her one remaining leg and dodged as Kreig fired off another series of shots in anger. The slugs struck the platform and left molten divets in the Vex metal that sizzled and smoked in the cold air as Mira's body tumbled across the platform and slid to halt near its edge.

A pitiful whine sounded from the Hunter as she huddled there in the corner of the platform on her side in a fetal position. It had hurt so much to use that last bit of Light, to move like that with only two limbs. Yet she held onto her Ghost with what little bit of strength she had left, clutching him to the hollow of her throat, knowing her life depended on it. Then she heard Krieg snarl in rage, the rattle of his Xenophage as he turned, and dread filled the Exo's core.

"Guardian, I have to heal you- please! He's coming back!" Murdock's voice drifted up to her ears with urgency and she could feel his shell squirming in her fingers as he tried to wriggle himself free.

"Murdock, just... _hide_..." her metallic voice barely whispered from her glowing jaws, as she gave him a reassuring squeeze. "It's ok...I...I got this."

Mira-3 felt Murdock squirm for another moment more, then he grew still, and faded from her fingers into the safety of her cloak. Pressing her hand against the spot where he had been the Exo's glowing eyes looked up, gazing out at the deep pool of Radiolarian fluid just beyond the platform. The truth was the Hunter had put herself in a corner: deathly Vex milk on two sides, a murderous Titan on the other, one arm, one leg, practically on death's doorstep; her chances were near zero. Mira-3 released a sigh as she suddenly realized that she was terribly cold; strange how she hadn't noticed it until just this moment.

The heavy clinking of armor and the shadow that fell over her took the Exo out of her thoughts as the Titan finally caught up to her.

Krieg's boot collided with Mira's shoulder, forcibly kicking her over onto her back causing her to grunt, before he planted his heel across her neck and pressed down. Reaching up, the Hunter wheezed as she clawed weakly at the armored foot that lay across her throat, glowing eyes staring up at him with pained contempt. The polished Chemflesh helm tilted as the Titan gazed down at her, levelling the barrel of the Xenophage on her skull-like face.

"Call out to Murdock, Mira." he instructed darkly. "I want to make sure I don't miss this time."

The orbs of Mira-3's eyes simmered with pure hatred from within their dark sockets, "Go fry yourself in a pit of Hive acid, Kri-"

Yet her words were choked off as the Titan pressed down harder on her neck with his foot, then shifted the aim of his weapon, and pulled the trigger.

The Exo's body jolted as the slug from the Xenophage tore through her abdomen, her shriek of agony stifled by his heel on her throat. Mira's hand instantly went to the burning wound that smoked in the frigid air, what remained of her body squirming beneath the Titan. Then a look of pure exhaustion fell across the Exo's teal face and she slumped to the floor, huffing weak shallow breaths. A terrible shudder raced through Mira's body; everything hurt so much it was a wonder she wasn't dead already, yet she forced herself to hold on just a little longer...

"Call out to your Ghost, Exo, or I'll just kill you and wait for it to show up!" Krieg seethed with rage.

Yet Mira-3 simply lay there beneath him, barely breathing, the orbs of her eyes unfocused staring straight up, arm at her side, fingers fumbling awkwardly.

A snarl of frustration sounded from the Titan and he shoved the barrel of his Xenophage hard against the Hunter's Temple, finger poised on the trigger, when a voice stopped him.

"Guardian, wait!"

Krieg's Chemflesh helm whirled sharply to glare at the Eyeball Shell of his Ghost, the tiny creature flinching as he focused on her where she floated level with his head.

"I know this Exo has wronged you, Guardian, and your anger against her is justified in your eyes, but please..." Krin's glowing optic gazed at him pleadingly. "...certainly you can spare her Ghost? He's done nothing wrong."

Feeling the Xenophage pull away from her skull as Krieg faced his Ghost, Mira-3 forced her head to loll back towards them, her eyes rolling around in their sockets, trying to focus.

"Spare this freak's Ghost - are you stupid, Krin!?" Krieg snapped, causing her shell to constrict as if with fear and drift back from him.

Mira-3 lifted her arm just at the elbow and swallowed hard; had to get the angle just right. By the Light, her limbs never felt so heavy nor did it ever feel so painfully cold.

"He _chose_ her - gave her a second chance at life!" The Titan argued vehemently only causing his ghost to cower more. "If I let him live he'll simply bring her back or worse, choose someone just as defective!"

Angle was wrong; Mira's eyes narrowed and she let out a sigh as her fingers flexed knowing that she could fix it, but cursed at how very much she hated the cold.

"Hey Krieg..." she breathed.

The Titan's Chemflesh helm whirled quickly around to gaze down at her, and he heard the cocking of the pistol too late.

"...you've got something on your face."

Mira-3 felt the Ace of Spades bark in her hand as she pulled the trigger, watched as the front of Krieg's helmet exploded in a burst of gore, and his head jerked back. At the same time, his Ghost jolted with an Arch surge and dropped to the platform with a hard clunk, then grew still. Krieg's legs buckled beneath him and the Xenophage tumbled from his limp fingers landing on the metal surface with a loud clatter. The Titan's massive form slumped awkwardly to his knees, toppled to one side and then slipped off the edge of the platform where Mira heard it splash loudly into the glowing pool of Vex Milk.

All strength left the Hunter's limbs as her arm fell, the gold and black Ace of Spades thunking heavily to the ground in her hand as she settled. Mira-3 relaxed onto the cold Vex metal feeling the grip of death close in around her and the warmth of life fade away. Yet her orange, glowing Exo eyes turned to the inert Ghost lying on the floor.

"Krin...please don't...bring him...back..."

Although she was sure her jaws were moving, Mira wasn't sure the words actually came out, but she had no more strength to draw breath again. Her eyes drifted as death came to claim her, and for an instant her optics landed on a hooded figure shrouded in shadows, coming closer. Yet no more thoughts came to the Exo's mind as everything shut down.

And darkness consumed everything.

**_[To be continued...]_ **


	5. Part Five

Mira-3 came back to life with a body shuddering jolt, the glowing orange orbs of her eyes blazing to life in their bleak sockets as she awoke.

"Nyha-wh!?"

Murmuring noises of panic echoed from the Exo's glowing maw as she leapt to her feet, head jerking around, confused as to where she was. Eyes darting quickly around, the Hunter realized she was near the entrance to the Well of Infinitude. High above her the triangular arches of Vex metal struts held up the tunnels that led deep into the Well. Ice crinkled and shone brightly along the rocky surface of the walls, what little rock actually peered through. As Mira shifted nervously on her feet, she heard thick snow crunching beneath her feet and smelled the frigid cold of the air.

Then the memories started flooding back.

_Krieg! My arm! My leg!_

The Hunter's eyes snapped down to look at her body, searching for her left arm that had been shot off, and found that it was once again reattached. Her hands slapped furiously against her black, white, and golden accented Seigebreaker armor, then moved down to her matching Orpheus Rigs to touch her legs. A sigh of relief echoed from her as she touched her legs, seeing them both there, working, whole. Wiggling her fingers, opening and closing her hands, she even flexed her toes in her boots, Mira made sure everything was working, but went back to touching everything again just to double check.

Then a pang of absolute terror raced through the Exo as she looked up suddenly, and this time she vocalized her fear.

"Murdock!" Mira-3 cried out frantically. "Murdock wh-"

"I'm right here Guardian!" she heard his voice, her head snapping in its direction as he drifted towards her.

Her hands quickly scooped him out of the air and the Exo held him gently in her fingers, thumbs caressing the smoothness of his shell.

"Are-you-ok-are-you-hurt-you-alright?" the words came out of her in a rush.

"I'm okay, Guardian, I'm okay. We're okay." Murdock's voice gently soothed her as his shimmering purple optic gazed up at her.

The tension and panic began to fade as Mira stared down at the tiny Light in her hands and she felt herself start to relax.

"It's about time you woke up, sleeping beauty." a voice chuckled from behind her.

The Ace of Spades was instantly in Mira-3's hand as she whirled towards the voice, clutching her Ghost to her chest as she turned, only to freeze as a dark figure rushed at her. A gloved hand was around her pistol before she could even blink, pushing it off course, and the Exo stiffened as the visage of a Celestial Nighthawk helm stopped inches from her own face. The crimson Neoteric Kiyot Cloak snapped to a halt around the Hunter before her, the fur around his collar ruffling in the frigid air as he gazed into her face, the cape settling around his dark Iron Will armor.

"Take it easy, Mira. You're safe." he said gently, his fingers sliding down the pistol and wrapping around her hand. "Don't get twitchy on me."

The glowing orbs in Mira's head winked on and off as she blinked, "R-Rio?"

"That's right." he said evenly, pushing the Ace down. "Your most handsome mentor and best friend."

Yet the Exo's face contorted with anger as she pulled the pistol back, let go of her Ghost and snatched the other Hunter up by his collar.

"Where in the depths of the Void have you been, Rio Oshi-Ii?!" Mira shouted in his face. "Friend?! Mentor?! More like giant pain in my ass!"

Murdock quickly vanished from sight into his Guardian's cloak; the Ghost knew it was better to hide when the Exo was this angry.

"Woah woah, easy with the grabby hands, Tin Can!" Rio threw up his hands defensively. "I'm sorry I was late, but the Fallen dropped a Glimmer drill on me on the way here, and you know your boy can't resist that. I mean, petty change ain't no theft right?"

Mira could envision Rio's tanned face underneath the Celestial Nighthawk helm, see the smug grin across his boy-ish features, feel his pale blue eyes glittering at her with mirth, and it made her scowl.

"Of course you gave into your greed." Mira seethed as she released his collar and holstered her hand cannon. "It's all you really care about, Rio."

The crimson Hunter hissed in feigned pain as he clutched his chest:

"Why you gotta cut me like that, Mira? Even after I carried you to safety so you could revive in peace? And here I was going to compliment you on taking out that Titan and his Ghost, all while _finally_ getting a Xenophage." he tisked, shaking his head. "Damn girl."

Mira balked at him, a look of confusion crossing her skull-like face as her mind raced; the expression only deepening as Rio pulled out and hefted the Xenophage for her to see.

"Wait..." she started, her voice unsteady. "I didn't...I shot Krieg and-"

"And then you shutdown his Ghost for good, two shots all with one arm!" Rio tipped his bird-like helm in her direction then puffed out his chest. "You make this Bird Pappa so proud."

He tossed the Xenophage at her and Mira-3 caught it awkwardly, staring down at the weapon and then back at Rio with a hard expression.

"No," she shook her head. "This...this isn't right. I-"

"Mira listen to me," Rio stepped forward and put his hand firmly on her shoulder. "Krieg went off the deep end when he came after _you,_ to kill you and Murdock. And you knew he wasn't going to stop, and his Ghost wasn't going to stop. So you did what you had to do, to protect yourself, to protect Murdock."

The blazing orbs of Mira's eyes drifted away from Rio's Celestial Nighthawk helm to gaze down at the Xenophage in her hands, and she felt Rio give her shoulder a squeeze.

"Krieg chose suicide by Guardian, don't beat yourself up over the path he chose, Mira. You did the right thing."

While his words were comforting, Mira found herself nodding only because she didn't know what else to say.

"There's my, Tin Can." Rio's voice carried a smile as he patted her shoulder and stepped back. "Now put on a helmet and let's get going. Your horns are gonna freeze off out here, and then how are you gonna win the next Exo beauty pageant for me if you lost your horns?"

Despite it, a slight smirk crossed Mira-3's Exo face as she holstered the Xenophage, transmatted another Holdfast Helm onto her head, and pulled her teal, Empyrean hood over her head.

"If I ever win any beauty contests, I'm keeping all the money for myself, Rio." Mira replied making sure the hood was properly affixed.

"Yea, you right. We'd have better luck dressing up a Vex and entering it anyway." he teased, then asked. "You got your Rat King, I got ya? It's gonna be perfect for this job we're doing."

Mira snorted as she switched out her Ace of Spades for the Rat King handcannon and loaded it, "And this is why you're actually a rat pretending to be a bird."

"Listen, this pistol is the ultimate weapon for Hunters in a group, and one day, Imma make you see it." Rio threw his arm over her shoulder and started to lead her back down into the Well of Infinitude. "Now, this job is gonna be skate. All we gotta do is get some supplies that were stolen from Spider by some other Fallen, and then were stolen by the Vex, and transported here. I worked out a great deal with Spider, we getting a fifty 'k' glimmer cut each, _and_ we get five percent of the supplies - that is, if they're all there and the boss is happy..."

Mira-3 let Rio lead her back down into the Well, silently listening as he explained the details of their work, yet let her mind go blank. She remained mostly quiet throughout their journey back into the Well, speaking only when necessary, or to jibe back at Rio when he teased her too hard. As Mira fought against the Vex once more, she wielded Krieg's Xenophage, feeling the massive power behind the weapon, flinching at the first few blasts of the gun as she remembered the pain of it. A strange knot formed in the pit of her stomach every time she pulled that trigger. It felt wrong but at the same time, the Hunter found herself enjoying the weapon.

Together, the pair successfully retrieved the supplies, except for one box that a massive Vex Monitor demolished when Rio blew the beast up with his Golden Gun. They mutually agreed not to tell Spider about the details of the box, transmatted the supplies out to awaiting allies, and then agreed to meet up at the Tangled Shore later for the final payment. Despite Rio's praise of her performance and skill, Mira couldn't help but feel like she belonged in a junk pile at the end of the mission.

Once they parted ways and the Exo found herself back inside the dim berthing of her ship once more, that feeling only grew worse.

Feeling the hum of the ship's engines through her bare feet, Mira-3 found herself sitting on the same bench bolted to the floor next to the table in the berthing. The glowing orange orbs of her eyes stared hard at the floor, arms resting atop her knees as she slowly swirled the alcohol in the bottle grasped in her right hand. Murdock's shimmering purple optic watched her with concern from where her armor and cloak hung up nearby. Mira's mind filtered back to her fight with Krieg as she tilted back her head, opened up her glowing maw, and tipped the bottle into her mouth. She remembered the painful sting of the Vex Milk filling her mouth, her throat as the alcohol poured in, the liquor burning only slightly. Yet as she swallowed more than half the bottle and sat it onto the table with a loud clunk, the Exo scowled.

Mira-3 would never get drunk; being an Exo prevented this, and this...wouldn't take her pain away.

Pushing the bottle away with a disdainful flick of her fingers, Mira's hellish gaze roved to a syringe and a large medical bottle sitting nearby. The Exo was anything but tired, exhaustion was the last thing on her mind; in truth Mira never felt tired unless she was near death. But death and sleep were the only things that ever truly took her pain away, and by the cruel nature of what she was now, Mira was denied them both.

Mira-3's hand drifted across the table, her teal colored fingers closing around the syringe, when Murdock's shell suddenly landed on the back of her hand.

"Please, Guardian...don't." he pleaded softly, gentle clicks sounding from his shell as his reticle looked up at her.

Guilt filled the Exo as she stared back at the Ghost in the dim light, thinking how terrifying she must look in the near dark of the berthing; burning eyes in a face like a skull topped with horns.

"How can you even bear to look at me, Murdock?" she asked. "How do you go by each day knowing you resurrected an inhuman monster?"

"Very easily." Murdock stated matter-of-factly with a bright chirp. "You are not a monster, my Guardian, and you are just as human as anyone made of flesh and bone."

"I'm a human mind trapped in a metal suit, and I just murdered another Ghost." Mira rejoined dourly, her expression hardening. "How does that not make me monstrous?"

"I didn't see you murder, Krin, Guardian, in fact...I'm not sure she's gone." Murdock's optic narrowed in thought.

Mira-3's orange eyes widened in their sockets as she perked up in her chair, and her head tilted ever so slightly as she stared at him.

"Murdock..." the Hunter began slowly. "What do you remember after I died?"

The Ghost's optic darted back and forth inside his shell as he recounted his memories:

"I remember hearing your Ace going off, then I sensed the life fade from Krieg, heard him sinking into the Radiolarian, then felt you fully die. When I came out of your cloak, I saw Krin's shell lying on the floor, inert, and Rio rushing up to us, but my focus was on restoring you back to life. Rio told me to keep doing what I was doing as he gathered up some of your things from the platform, then asked me to hold off on bringing you back fully until he could carry you out of the Well."

Something that Murdock said made Mira jolt in her chair, causing her to pull her hand away from the syringe and the Ghost lifted up into the air startled by the motion.

"My Ace!" Mira exclaimed. "Murdock, where is it?"

"I put it away as you-"

"Where is it!?" Mira leaned forward with earnest.

"Here!" Murdock blurted.

The Ghost's Arch Shell alighted and rotated as he transmatted the handcannon into being, the weapon appearing in a shimmer of light before clunking loudly to the surface of the table. Mira-3 snatched it up into her hands and hastily opened the cylinder, her blazing orange eyes gazing at it with feverish intensity. As her fingers rotated the chamber the Exo became terribly still, and a dark expression fell across her skull-like face.

"Murdock..." Mira began slowly. "...there's only one bullet missing from this gun."

"Which means you didn't kill, Krin!" Murdock noted brightly, then his optic narrowed. "But, if all you did was shoot Krieg, then that must mean-"

Mira-3 slapped the cylinder closed and held the pistol parallel to her ghastly face, "It means that Rio lied to me and that he took her."

"But what would a Guardian want with a second Ghost?" Murdock pondered not liking the look on Mira's face.

The orange orbs inside the Exo's skull-like face burned with a hellish intensity as she slowly thumbed the hammer of the handcannon in her grasp, letting the sound of it click ominously throughout the room.

"He doesn't... _but I know who does_."

An arachnid scurried up the wall nearby and Mira-3 blasted it into oblivion with a precise shot from the pistol in her hand, the scowl on her robotic face alone enough to kill.

" _ **Spider**_."

_**[More in the Epilogue...]** _


	6. Epilogue

Rio Oshi-Ii sauntered out from the entrance of the Spider's Lair and into the metal foyer, pep to his step, and a twinkle in the eyes of his Celestial Nighthawk helm as he looked over the data slate in his hand.

"Ooh Selena, my girl, we are eating good tonight!" he chortled as the elegant, Sanctified Vigilance Shell of his Ghost hovered over his shoulder.

"Where should we eat at, hm?" Rio asked his thumb tapping against the slate. "That corner deli in the Tower with the view you like? Ristorante de Cataline? Or that noodle shop for old times sake?"

"Rio..." his Ghost tilted, a series of concerned clicks coming from her shell as she hovered there. 'Do you honestly think now is a good time to celebrate, when you just deceived one of your closest allies?"

The sigh that echoed from Rio as he let his hand fall and his head stare up at the ceiling was deep, and long.

"Aight then." the Hunter huffed, refusing to look at her as he went back to tapping at the slate. "Guess I'm picking dinner tonight."

Selene's optic narrowed as she floated in front of his face:

"What do you think her reaction will be when she realizes the truth?"

"She's not gonna find out!" Rio snapped, finally looking up at the Ghost. "Cause ain't nobody gonna tell her, right?"

"Mira-3 is clever and resourceful, it's why you picked her as your student." Selene rejoined. "You don't play around with dumb, isn't that right, my Guardian?"

"Mira's not that smart!" Rio shot back, then let out a huff of exasperation as he paused to think.

Rio hated it when his Ghost got all haughty like this, trying to mind check him, like she was his mother or morale compass or something. Trying to reason with her was a battle itself, and sometimes Rio wondered if she was his worst enemy instead of all the monsters out in the system that tried to tear him apart. But Selene, Selene knew how to cut him deep and get him where it really hurt. His Ghost was a drag but he needed her, and sometimes he wished she just had his back when he wanted to play dirty.

Pocketing the data slate, Rio placed his hands on his hips and turned his bird-like helm back to face his Ghost:

"Listen, Selene." he began evenly. "Even IF Mira figures out that I used her to kill Krieg off for Spider to get at his Ghost, so what, doesn't matter. All I did was do her and the System a favor. We both know that Krieg had gone true Dredgen and his Ghost was loyal to him, they never woulda stopped until Mira and anyone else on their hit-list was dead!"

Rio paused and glanced down at his feet.

"Besides, Krin is still...sorta _alive..._ under Spider's care," he reasoned, gesturing with his fingers. "If Mira feels one way about it, hell, she can negotiate the Ghost's freedom, but my point is ...There's one less murderous Guardian in the universe now, one less chance there'll be another one, and Mira and Murdock are safe, and well compensated for their suffering _because of what I DID_."

Rio glared at his Ghost and then threw his arms out.

"Now, can we eat dinner in peace?"

Selene hovered there quietly, her shell shifting in contemplation and, for a moment, Rio thought he had won her over.

Then she spoke.

"My Guardian, I never questioned your motives." she said somberly. "I am afraid of what Mira-3 will do when she realizes you have betrayed her confidence."

This time Rio groaned in near physical pain as his hands clawed at his helmeted face and slid down to tug at his crimson cloak in angst.

"RRR-NOTHING!" Rio roared as he whirled on her. "Mira ain't gonna do jack! Because she needs me, and this conversation is OVER!"

The Hunter snatched his Ghost out of the air and held her firmly in his hands, looming over her. Despite the tiniest of movements from her reticle, Selene was perfectly still and calm in his grasp, as if she held no sense of fear. Rio's shoulder's rose and fell as he took a deep breath and his voice lowered.

"Take us to orbit, now." he demanded.

Selene's gaze softened as she stared up at him, "Guardian, you know I am an old Ghost and when I speak it is only out of the wisdom of concern for you."

"You're a damn hag!" Rio shook her slightly in frustration. "Orbit! Now!"

It was his Ghost's turn to sigh, "As you wish, my Guardian."

In a ripple of bright, white light, Rio's form disappeared from existence in the hallowed alcove outside of Spider's lair, but in the shadows just below the steps, something stirred. A figure molded from the darkness, stepping out just into the light from where they had been standing. The hood over his head obscured most of his face where it could not be seen, but a set of glittering Awoken eyes peered out curiously from the depths within. The blazing emboss of a white, stylized spider across the cowl draped over his chest came into view as he stepped further into the light to look up at where Rio had been standing. He lingered there for a moment, as if contemplating what he just witnessed, then turned and headed back into the dark depths of the Spider's inner sanctum.

**[True Terminus]**


End file.
